OVERVIEW

Activity Overview:

Students will work together in groups of 2-3 to build, debug, and run a variety of circuits both in TinkerCad and IRL on an Arduino and breadboard. Each assignment will be progressively harder and build on the knowledge of previous assignments. Students will receive game points (not related to the assignment grade) for completing the tasks first. Each project is worth more points than the last and the object is to have the most points at the end to win a prize (in this case, lunch at my expense). Each day, teacher will review circuit components and what we learned that works well.

Meta description

• Subject Area: Computer Science, Technology, Engineering
• Grade Level : 6-8
• Computer Science Domains:
  • Computing Systems
  • Algorithms and Programming
• Computer Science Principles:
  • Collaborating Around Computing
  • Recognizing and Defining Computational Problems
  • Creating Computational Artifacts
  • Testing and Refining Computational Artifacts
• Materials:
  • Arduino
• Considerations:
  • This takes a lot of prep for materials and clean up is not fun

Lesson Plan

Overview

Students will work together in groups of 2-3 to build, debug, and run a variety of circuits both in TinkerCad and IRL on an Arduino and breadboard. Each assignment will be progressively harder and build on the knowledge of previous assignments. Students will receive game points (not related to the assignment grade) for completing the tasks first. Each project is worth more points than the last and the object is to have the most points at the end to win a prize (in this case, lunch at my expense). Each day, teacher will review circuit components and what we learned that works well.

ASSESSMENT PRE/POST-TEST

How do you determine the PIN number when coding? What does a resistor do? What do you need for a successful circuit? (power, ground, the correct resistor if needed, and code)

OBJECTIVES

Debug and run a the circuit example both virtually and IRL Students will be able to build a circuit IRL that completes the task given

CATCH/HOOK

What happens when a circuit overloads in your house? Why?

ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS

See my very detailed lesson plan

Supplements

Any items in this section are the property & under the license of their respective owners.

REVIEW

What do we know about circuits in general? What are some things that cause circuits to malfunction? Did you enjoy building or debugging more? For the next lesson, how could you combine circuits with a household item to build a useful technology? (plan waterer, etc)

STANDARDS